I haven't posted about my kids on here in a loooooooong time. That's sad, because this blog really started out as and should still be completely about my kids. So here are some updates and funny things about them recently!
Tempe has started getting pretty emotional lately. It's not a very fun stage, and I know it won't end any time soon. I've noticed her outbursts seem much more like mood swings than just typical preschool frustration, so I think she's hit that fun girl stage early. She fluctuates between collapsing into tears over the smallest things and being the happiest, sweetest, most helpful little girl ever! I'm trying to get her to sleep earlier every night, be more consistent in discipline, and give her special attention to let her know I love her--hopefully those things will help. Any other suggestions??
Tempe's valentine card for Jason: Dear Dad, Kate loves you and so do I. Love, Tempe
Helena is really into Spiderman and other superheroes. I don't know where it started, but she's obsessed with them! Her birthday is coming up and she can't wait. We're deep in the throes of planning the party and she talks about it constantly. Poor Helena had a huge accident the other day--she spilled a gallon of navy blue paint on the carpet in my bedroom. She wasn't doing anything naughty at all, so of course I wasn't mad at her. I was mad at myself because I left a gallon of paint where kids could get at it! We spent all week trying to get the stain out, but the carpet is starting to stink from being wet so long, so today I called it. It's still very blue, but luckily it's on the side of the bed so not in a very noticeable spot. Helena felt very bad, but I forgave her :)
Helena: I hate butts!
Tempe: Helena... if you didn't have a butt, you wouldn't be able to go potty when your body needed to. (Don't know where this came from--we say bum at our house, not butt)
Helena's valentine card for me and Jason: Dear Mom and Dad, I hope you have a good day at work Dad, love Helena (Gee, thanks, Helena, I'll have a good day too)
Juno is officially walking! She still crawls quite a bit (because it's so much faster), but she can and does walk across the room. More and more, she's choosing to walk to something she wants instead of crawl to it. At 15 months, she's walking several weeks earlier than Helena did--after her HD-filled first year, it's so neat to see her walking around like a big girl! She loves to clap, play peekaboo, imitate everything (talking on the phone, putting on socks, brushing her hair), and look at books. She's also starting to try coloring with crayons and sidewalk chalk. Juno is at my absolute favorite age--old enough to be learning and gaining independence, but young enough that I don't have to worry about discipline and consequences. We looooooooooove her!
On to the parenting breakthrough. Maybe "breakthrough" is a little much, but it's a method that has been really helping for us, so I thought I would share! Do your kids get out of control crazy? They start giggling and bouncing off the walls--at first it's cute, but it soon escalates into absolute mayhem, teasing, and fighting. Well, I used to just scream "Calm down!!!!" or send them to their room "until you can behave" when this happened. Obviously that never worked. I have a new method. Now when the kids need to calm down or need a break from the rest of the family for another reason (being rude, teasing, being disrespectful) I give them a task to do: "Go to your room and look for Norman the Nephite on three pages and then you can come down". PERFECT SOLUTION! They're distracted, they put their crazy excess energy that they siphoned out of me into their task, and they come back completely happy and better behaved. I'm so glad I figured this out! Some of the other tasks I give are to do a puzzle (or several for Tempe), look at a picture book and come back and report what it was about, or color a picture (I usually give a specific assignment of something to color, otherwise they just do a couple quick scribbles). Works like a charm!
What parenting tips do you have? I would love to hear them!!
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